VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Wonder how insanely expensive that will be?

It is pretty badass. I was overpowered so didn't get a great test but it flies like a dream. So nice when drifting it doesn't drop at all it just sits there. Gotta try it in light wind. I see everyone balking at Aluula prices... do you mountain bike? If so do you own a carbon bike? Nobody is forcing you to buy it...

Yes exactly. I waited for 10 years so I could get a decent carbon road bike second hand for under $1k.

The difference being of course than a carbon bike can't get split in half while sitting on the beach doing nothing thanks to an arrant sharp object. Bikes are also more serviceable over time whereas any fabric exposed to UV/salt/sand goes one way. I understand the appeal however, its just not a fair comparison.

juandesooka wrote: game changer

*takes a shot*

nanmoo wrote:The difference being of course than a carbon bike can't get split in half while sitting on the beach doing nothing thanks to an arrant sharp object. Bikes are also more serviceable over time whereas any fabric exposed to UV/salt/sand goes one way. I understand the appeal however, its just not a fair comparison.

But a carbon bike won't be the difference between biking home or carrying your bike home (ie. swimming with a kite.)

I can say with certainty my 17m Aluula has saved me from swimming vs. my old 17m dacron on a handful of occasions so far. Mind you, I am probably borderline irresponsible in the crazy light wind I try to ride in sometimes Know your limit, play within it!

Does anyone have any of the new wingfoil specific inflatable boards? Interested to hear/see how those work out. Considering you're on the foil hopefully most of the time, and assuming its nice an reinforced down the middle, seems like the weight savings vs a rigid board would make it a great option for winging.

AJSpencer wrote:Does anyone have any of the new wingfoil specific inflatable boards? Interested to hear/see how those work out. Considering you're on the foil hopefully most of the time, and assuming its nice an reinforced down the middle, seems like the weight savings vs a rigid board would make it a great option for winging.

Give me 3 weeks and I'll have a review from the perspective of a beginning winger. Since most of the winging appeal for me is how compact the kit is an inflatable was the logical choice for board.
I went with the 5'3" Hipe 110L.

AJSpencer wrote:Does anyone have any of the new wingfoil specific inflatable boards? Interested to hear/see how those work out. Considering you're on the foil hopefully most of the time, and assuming its nice an reinforced down the middle, seems like the weight savings vs a rigid board would make it a great option for winging.

I haven't seen any inflatables that are lighter than hard boards, the larger sizes 5'10 + are quite a bit heavier. The appeal is in compactness for travel and about half the cost of a hard board.

Ah. Nevermind then. Nice you can crush a whole wingfoil set-up down to a little bit more than a backpack for sure.
Interested to hear Grantmac's review nonetheless!

So I had a 125L board lined up to buy when I arrived but the sale fell through. Lots of people winging down here but nobody wants to part with their board. I decided to give it a go on my Alien Air I use for kite foil lessons coming in at 39.6L. I am about 80kg so mega sinker. I tried during a Norte but the wind was very holey. I got up a few times but fell quickly as soon as it lulled.
Today I tried on a nice 18ish knot thermal with a 2200cm wing and was pleasantly surprised! I started by straddling the board and finding the balance point. Then got the wing overhead and tucked one knee at a time until I was kneeling upright. Waited for a little gust and stood up my front foot first. If I kept the wing up high I could stand straight up with the board out of the water. Tilted it down a bit to gain momentum and it lifted on its own without pumping the foil or the wing! It didn't have a ton of surface tension like my 125L at home so just as it started planing it lifted. I ripped around for about 30 mins and decided to take out the 1300cm2 wing.
Again no problem just needed to get a bit more speed and pump the board and the wing. It did feel very nice though and a lot more like foiling on a kite. I even made a foiling gybe on the 1300cm2 wing Wind started to lull down to 15kn or less and I really had to pump the wing and the board to get going, even fell over a few times in the lulls.
Have to say I am pretty excited about this I really thought it would be damn near impossible on such a small board unless it was nuking or I weighed 50kg but I am really glad a tried it because it is much more manoeuvrable and it is going to be a lot of fun on the next wave day!

You down in LV?

That's awesome Marty! I found the same when I went to my Fanatic Sky Wing 5'0 75 lt from my 6'6 116 lt. My board is -10 lt (i'm 85kg). Similar to you, as long as I have some wind for the wing to stabilize me I can get on to my knees on the board and with enough (~ 6-8 kn) I can stand and balance or just wait on knees for a gust to get going. I found it easier to get flying in all conditions compared to my old "sticky", bigger, longer, heavier board. The performance gains are night and day, so easy to turn, carve, no swing weight. Of course the downside is I can't just jump on it and stand up in very light to no wind. I've paddled out to the wind line, and back to the shore a few times due to not enough wind, where on my old board I might have been able to pump my wing to "row" out or in. I don't think I'd go to the full sinker like yours but really enjoying the -10 lt buoyancy to weight with minimum length!

UnusuallyLargeRobin wrote:

AJSpencer wrote:Does anyone have any of the new wingfoil specific inflatable boards? Interested to hear/see how those work out. Considering you're on the foil hopefully most of the time, and assuming its nice an reinforced down the middle, seems like the weight savings vs a rigid board would make it a great option for winging.

I haven't seen any inflatables that are lighter than hard boards, the larger sizes 5'10 + are quite a bit heavier. The appeal is in compactness for travel and about half the cost of a hard board.

The 5'3" Hipe is lighter than the 5'4" Fanatic Sky and +15L more displacement.
So hardly a heavy board.

Grantmac - As I said inflatables (not just HIPE) tend to be quite heavier in the 6' +. I'm certainly not knocking the HIPE, or saying they're heavy, it was inflatables relative to hard boards, and not just directed at the HIPE. E.g. Gong Hipe 5'3 110 lt 6.9kg; Gong Lemon 5'2 120 lt 6.1kg, Gong Flint 5'8 110 lt 6.5kg. I think HIPE's are probably as light or lighter than other inflatables. I'm very interested in a future HIPE for my quiver, I really like the stiffness they've achieved with the carbon plate system, and like you said they have enormous float packed in a small length, and you can pack it all down to a small suitcase! The v1 Fanatic Sky WIng was rumoured to be on the heavy size as they wanted to err on durability, apparently the second or current batches are considerably lighter. Regardless in the those <6' lengths we're splitting hairs usually and many other factors than weight would be dominant reasons to choose one or the other.

Has a thru thickness solid section underfoot.
If stiff enough I really Iike portability piece and once on a foil the board shape much less important.

https://youtu.be/GkhS2fDyuQs